Amy Hamm: Kerry-Lynne Findlay is working hard to keep Eby’s NDP in power indefinitely

The B.C. Conservative Party is, metaphorically, on a shifting sandbar in the Pacific Ocean. By the time these words about the currently unfolding drama are published, they may already be out of date.   

Nine MLAs have quit since Kerry-Lynne Findlay won leadership of the party in May. Numerous party staffers also quit. Friday, Findlay booted three more: former party leader John Rustad, former interim leader Trevor Halford and Skeena MLA Claire Rattée. Rustad and Rattée were reportedly among a group of 10 MLAs who unsuccessfully demanded Findlay’s resignation this week.  

Rattée has since posted on X that she has no intention of leaving the party: “I was elected as a BC Conservative MLA and that’s not going to change. I’m not going anywhere,” reads part of her statement. “Ms. Findlay… does not have the authority to remove any member of our caucus,” because Findlay is not an elected MLA herself.

Hours later, Findlay made her own announcement on X: “Effective immediately, Trevor Halford, Claire Rattée, and John Rustad will no longer serve as members of the Conservative Party of British Columbia Caucus… Our caucus and grassroots are ready, and we’re building a strong team of candidates. There’s no room for internal power struggles or vanity projects. If your priority is building the movement, and supporting the Conservative Party of B.C., you are welcome,” she posted.  

Rattée then reposted her own statement on her refusal to leave the party as a comment on Findlay’s announcement.  

Before this latest political drama, Findlay also hired, then fired, Elaine Allan as executive director, and it has since emerged that Allan had paid a private investigator to follow current and former MLAs (including Rattée) and staffers, journalist Rob Shaw and even Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. Findlay claims she didn’t know about the private investigator, which is nearly as bad as if she had known. Similarly, Findlay hired and then fired Apollo Chung (formerly of the separatist Alberta Republican Party) as caucus operations director this summer. He was let go after a recording leaked of an unidentified staffer claiming he would  “steal everything” in reference to party funds. Findlay provided no public reason for firing Chung. 

Accusations — some vague and unproven — are emerging from two sides: there’s a camp arguing that the party is being intentionally demolished from within, by “faux” Conservatives who simply won’t allow Findlay to lead and are unhappy that she won the party leadership; and another camp is arguing that Findlay, who has yet to win a seat in a by-election, simply doesn’t have what it takes to unite her party and do her job. The never-ending turmoil, to both camps, is considered proof positive of their respective positions.  

Findlay’s own words, after booting Rustad, Halford, and Rattée, echo the vague argument made by her “grassroots” supporters: her talk about “power struggles” and “vanity projects” come across as passive aggressive, and light on the facts. Can we, the voters, please have some more details? Including about her unfortunate staffer hiring decisions. 

Findlay needs to get on the airwaves to defend the disarray and tell the public exactly what is going on behind closed doors. Otherwise, she risks losing all support outside of her immediate, unflinching base. (If she hasn’t already.) That she has chosen to stay largely mum on so much of the in-house controversy does not lend to her credibility as party leader. She cannot win an election — and possibly even a seat — by whipping her online and grassroots supporters into a frothing rage against fleeing or fired MLAs. Transparency matters more than social media battles. The macro view of Findlay’s leadership, which exists outside of online discourse, is looking terrible. 

When Findlay won the leadership race in May, I argued she’d be the antidote to the David Eby NDP’s extremism. For months, I remained sympathetic to the notion that Findlay’s opportunity to demonstrate her leadership was being unfairly thwarted. My sympathy has run dry. By all appearances, Findlay is happily shrinking the Conservative tent to an unelectable size. Whether one wants to admit it or not, B.C.’s conservative movement will never win without a big tent. It is infuriating to see the movement fall apart at a time when Premier Eby’s NDP holds a disastrous chokehold over this province’s economy and institutions.  

Eby, whose fortunes have reversed and who is now leading in the polls by 10 points, just might call an opportunistic election in the coming days. Blame belongs to Findlay for his next win.  

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